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It took just 78 seconds to spark ecstasy in Manchester and agony some 207 miles away in north London.
Phil Foden’s thumping opener against West Ham United was the goal notification Arsenal fans had dreaded, knowing a Manchester City victory would secure the Premier League title for a fourth consecutive season.
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Foden added a second in the 18th minute, twisting the knife even further into Arsenal as they watched Everton’s Idrissa Gueye score a deflected free-kick to take a shock lead at the Emirates Stadium.
Although Arsenal would come back to win, it was all in vain as City marched on to secure a 3-1 victory over the Hammers.
The win meant City became the first team to win four-straight league titles and their sixth in their last seven seasons.
But this latest triumph is made all the more remarkable by the fact they spent just three games on top of the ladder from November 12.
It followed a trend from last season in which Pep Guardiola’s side sat second for 30 of the first 32 games before leapfrogging Arsenal into first with just six matches remaining.
If it wasn’t evident before, it certainly is now: City are, quite simply, inevitable.
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Another element to City’s title charge is how they once again finished top of the pile after winning the treble last season, including their first Champions League.
Speaking on Sky SportsManchester United legend Gary Neville said his “most difficult season” was the one after the Red Devils claimed the treble because it “took so much out” of him.
“What is City’s cause this year?” Neville asked.
“They have achieved utopia. They cannot do any more.
“When you have fought so long and hard to win a Champions League like they have and won the treble, there has got to be that little bit of a sigh of relief.”
Perhaps the cause of making history once more was the key motivational factor for Guardiola.
But City are not done rewriting the record books just yet because victory in the FA Cup final would make Guardiola’s side the first to win consecutive Premier League titles and FA Cup finals.
Given City’s sheer dominance since Guardiola’s arrival in the Premier League, one must wonder what more his title rivals can do to knock the heavyweights off the throne.
Jurgen Klopp couldn’t keep up the fight, conceding he was “running out of energy” when he announced he’d leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
Given how close Arsenal came last season, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta had hoped the big money signings of Declan Rice and Kai Havertz would be the boost needed to pip City to the post.
Yet an improved Premier League season across the board was still not enough, sparking former Premier League veteran Clinton Morrison to claim Arsenal will never win the league until Guardiola decides to throw in the towel.
“They are not far away,” Morrison said on BBC Radio’s Friday Football Social.
“They need Pep to go and when he goes they will win the title. It’s as plain and simple as that.
“Arsenal have been fantastic and any other season, or if Manchester City weren’t in the league, they win the Premier League because they have been fantastic under Mikel Arteta.”
Well, by Guardiola’s admission, it doesn’t seem like Arsenal will need to wait much longer.
“The reality is I’m closer to leaving than to staying,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.
“It’s eight years, will be nine. Right now my feeling is I want to stay next season. We talked with the club, we have time to talk next season because I have to see the players as well, if they follow me, they follow us.
“I want to stay next season. During the season, we will talk. But after eight, nine years …”
Even if Guardiola decides to stay a little longer and continually find new causes to spur his star-studded squad on even further, Arsenal will be ready to pounce on any slip-ups.
The Gunners possess one of the youngest squads in the league and, most importantly, have now had two experiences of what’s required in a title race.
Gabriel and William Saliba have developed into one of the best centre back pairings in the league while the midfield triumvirate of Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Thomas Partey is one teams across Europe view with envy.
Throw in attacking options like Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, it’s easy to see why Arsenal fans are so optimistic about the future.
As the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel wrote, “any sense of disappointment was quickly replaced by an impression of pride” once it was confirmed Arsenal had finished second once again.
“The Emirates Stadium was at its loudest as Michael Oliver blew for full time,” Mokbel said.
“They know their team is on the cusp of something special.
“Indeed, in a few weeks time, as the battle scars of another failure have healed, those dreams will burn brightly once again.
“They are so close and the reaction of the supporters to a heartbreaking disappointment suggests they believe they’ll eventually reach the promised land.”
The Times’ James Gheerbrant echoed the sentiment.
“It will still hurt that their name will not be engraved on the trophy, that their wait for a title will stretch into a 21st year, that as Manchester City’s supremacy hardens into dynasty, theirs recedes further into memory,” Gheerbrant wrote.
“But this felt, by the end, like an uplifting occasion, not a funereal one; not a day to mourn how close this young team had come, but instead to celebrate how far.”
Although City remained the dominant force for yet another season, the scenes in sunny north London showed that this Arsenal team are inching ever closer towards a breakthrough title and everyone at the club knows it.
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